Red Blood and Blue Hands
by Lakshimbai
Summary: Patrick Jane and the CBI investigate the death of Robin Wood and bump into Buffy Summers and her friends. Jane has to confront the fact that the occult really does exist, and the two need to work together to catch the killers.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Buffy and friends belong to Joss Whedon, Patrick and friends belong to Bruno Heller and CBS.

A/N: I love the Mentalist. I really do, it's my new favourite show. And it got me thinking: what if Patrick Jane had to deal with the fact that demons and ghosts etc really do exist? The obvious people to pair him with was Buffy Summers and the Scooby Gang, mainly because I thought it would be amusing to see them all together.

This is set early Season 1 for the Mentalist, as Grace is still relatively new to the team. There's no specific episode that this would precede, so no spoilers. It's post Season 7 for Bufy, but AU for after that - I haven't read any of Season 8.

This is my first time writing for the Mentalist and for Buffy, so I'd appreciate any comments on how you think it's going. I think everyone's in character, but would love to hear what others think.

* * *

Patrick Jane, reformed fake psychic, knew that the occult was a trap for the vulnerable, the unwary and the just plain stupid. He used it enough times to get what he wanted, money in the old days, confessions now, that he didn't ever waste a second wondering. He was sure his team, with the possible exception of Van Pelt, felt the same way. Which was why he was a little surprised that their latest case was causing such consternation.

"Did I miss the memo?"

"Just get in the car Jane." Lisbon hadn't been in a good mood that morning, and the case they had been ordered to work on certainly hadn't improved matters.

"What's the matter? So we've got another dead body. So?"

"So this dead body belongs to one Robin Wood and we've been asked to investigate."

"So who's Robin Wood and why did Rigsby put on a crucifix necklace when he read the file?"

"Because Rigsby has heard of Sunnydale." Lisbon said that as though it should answer all of his questions, when of course it did nothing but give him others.

"Sunnydale? The town that fell into a crater? What does that have to do with Rigsby deciding he's suddenly Catholic?"

"It's not because I'm Catholic Jane, it's just in case," Rigsby pointed out.

"Just in case of what? And what does any of that have to do with Robin Wood?"

"He was principal of the High School there." Lisbon sighed. "Jane, Sunnydale has a weird reputation in law enforcement circles. Odd things happened there all the time and the local cops did nothing about the fact that their murder rate made New York look like a Sunday School. Wood was also on the last bus out of the town before it collapsed. The Governor is treating this as the highest priority, so please try not to antagonise people more than absolutely necessary."

He settled into his seat feeling oddly put out. Why wouldn't anyone explain what 'odd things' happened in Sunnydale that meant it creeped out seasoned cops like Lisbon and Rigsby? He sulked all the way to the crime scene, a small warehouse facility in the town of Santa Cruz, about forty miles from the Sunnydale crater. Cho and Van Pelt were already there, getting details from the local cops and dealing with forensics. Jane, frankly still annoyed at the way everyone was acting like he should know the answers already, and even more annoyed that he really _didn't_ know what was going on, decided to wander off and see what he could find out. And irritate Lisbon of course.

He paced around the crime scene tape, studying all those who had shown up to gawp at the police and ambulance. Most were the average spectator and Jane dismissed them as unimportant. One group, however, caught his eye. Four young kids, well young adults, and an older man stood together, watching silently. It was the way they stood that really made him stare. All stood poised to run at any moment, except the short blonde who looked poised to fight. All had an air of awareness that came from years of facing dangerous situations. He knew that look. Lisbon had that look.

The older man noticed his attention and all five turned to stare at him. Jane smiled and waved cheerily. Over the years, he'd found that most people reacted better to friendliness initially, and if nothing else, it always threw those that expected something else. To his surprise, the youngest of them, a tall, pretty brunette, waved back. With a mental shrug, Jane wandered over to them.

"Nice day for it, huh?"

They all studied him with the same blank expression, assessing him as a threat. Then the older man spoke. "A friend of ours has just died. It is not a nice day." He was British, the accent clipped and sharp.

Jane nodded. "Ah. You know Robin Wood then. Great. Lisbon's gonna be thrilled with me. I found an actual clue, and I haven't hypnotised anyone yet!"

"You hypnotise people?" The blonde girl asked him, her voice chirpy and amused.

"When Lisbon isn't looking," he replied. "You always try and pull that Valley Girl thing with everyone you meet, or just those you think are cops? I'm not, by the way. Consultant." They all blinked and he grinned.

"I didn't catch your name," the older man said politely. "I'm Rupert Giles."

"JANE!" Lisbon's yell cut through the air.

"That's me," he acknowledged. "You should speak to her. She's going to find who did this."

"Your name is Jane?" The younger man spoke up for the first time. For some reason, he was wearing an eye patch. Jane fervently hoped he wasn't wearing it for the obvious reason.

"Yep." He turned and yelled back, "I've got something Lisbon!" She came over quickly, looking concerned. "And I haven't done anything illegal, stupid or just forbidden. You might even call it proper police work." The kids smothered smiles at that. "They're friends with Robin Wood. Did I do good or what?"

"You're fantastic," she replied dryly. He beamed. "I'm Agent Teresa Lisbon, California Bureau of Investigation. You knew Mr Wood?"

"We did." The short blonde spoke and Jane looked on in amusement. Despite the disparity in age, and frankly height, it was clear she was the leader of this group. The others all took their lead from her. "I worked at the same High School as the School Counsellor for a while and when Sunnydale went bye-bye, he came to work for our organisation."

"And you are?"

"Buffy Summers. This is my sister Dawn and my friends Rupert Giles, Xander Harris and Willow Rosenberg."

"And you laughed at my name," Jane reproved Xander Harris with a smile. "At least Jane is a proper word."

"Patrick Jane is a consultant," Lisbon said tightly with a heavy emphasis on his name.

"Mr Jane is a lost soul," Willow Rosenberg said suddenly. Everyone turned to stare at her, but she only looked at Jane. "Your aura is filled with such grief and guilt and such loss…how do you stand it? You must miss them terribly."

He paused for a long moment, frozen in position, before he recovered. "Nice. Nice. I've done better, but not bad for a spur of the moment cold-read. I mean, you wouldn't get a slot on network TV, not without a little more work, but still impressive."

"The Patrick Jane? The psychic?" Rupert Giles stared at him with undisguised amusement. "Fascinating."

"The fake psychic," Jane emphasised. "On the basis that there's no such thing as the real thing and I was making it up as I went along." The kids all started to grin.

"No change there then," Lisbon muttered. "I'll need to speak with you about Mr Wood. When was the last time you saw him?"

"How did he die?" Buffy asked. The two women stared at each other, until Jane tapped Lisbon on the shoulder.

"Tell her. She didn't do it, but she's not going to tell you anything unless you give her something first."

Lisbon rolled her eyes, but she said, "He was shot twice in the head, commonly called a 'double tap' and often used in mob executions. As far as we can tell before a full post-mortem, he's been dead twelve to fourteen hours and he was shot in that warehouse over there. Now, once again, when was the last time you saw him?"

Buffy exchanged considering looks with Rupert Giles before she nodded. At that, Giles said, "I last saw him about three months ago. I spoke with him on the phone two days ago about a property he was looking at buying for our organisation. It's the old Santa Cruz Hospital, and we thought it might be a useful addition to our portfolio. He said it looked promising, but that others were interested in purchasing the property."

"So how did you know something had happened to him? He's been dead twelve hours, and you're all already here." Jane frowned. "How does that work?"

"Psychic trace?" Xander Harris offered with no trace of irony. "It's company policy that all employees sign up to be psychically traced at all times, so we know if something bad happens."

Jane sighed. "Just because I sold a lot of people a lot of stories about that stuff does not mean I'm likely to fall for all that Ouija Board nonsense. In fact, I'm the last person who would fall for it, because I'm usually the one selling that crap."

"Jane, this is not a discussion about psychics. You want to talk about that, go annoy Van Pelt." Lisbon turned back to the others. "I apologise for Jane. He's a consultant and his actions and opinions are not in any way endorsed by the CBI."

"She says that a lot," Jane chipped in with a grin, getting answering ones from Xander Harris and Dawn Summers. The others just ignored him. "Seriously, how did you get here so fast?"

"Coincidence," Rupert Giles said.

Jane nodded consideringly, before he turned to Lisbon. "It's interesting, because he's lying through his teeth, yet I'm pretty sure none of them were actually involved in Wood's murder. So he's lying for a different reason. I wonder what that could be?"

"Maybe because you're really, really irritating?" Buffy offered with a small smile. "I mean, sure, don't get me wrong, you're very hello salty goodness as Cordelia would say, but wow, can you annoy!" To Lisbon's amusement, Jane actually blushed at the salty goodness comment. Dawn went to say something, but Buffy cut her off, "And no, Dawnie, so not my type. I told you, I'm past the haunted, deep dark secrets in the past seriously screwing up the present type."

"Besides, waaaay too young for the Buffster," Xander added with a smirk. She whacked his shoulder and he whined, "Easy on the Slay- normal, totally normal Californian strength there Buff. You forget I'm just a puny mortal."

Lisbon never thought she'd see the day, but she was actually having to rescue Jane from an embarrassing situation that he didn't seem able to talk his way out of. "Jane's good points aside," she nudged him in the stomach and was rewarded with a sheepish, highly embarrassed glare, "we'll need to speak with you about the nature of Mr Wood's work for your organisation. I don't believe you mentioned its name?"

"The International Council of Watchers," Giles replied. "We specialise in the collection and preservation of ancient artefacts and manuscripts. Here's my contact number. We'll be staying at the Hotel Santa Cruz until this matter has been dealt with and we'll be happy to help in any way Agent Lisbon. Robin Wood was a good friend as well as an employee and we are anxious to make sure his killers, whatever they are, are brought to justice."

"Thank you, your assistance is much appreciated." Lisbon grabbed hold of Jane's arm and dragged him away before he could say something that would only annoy these people into non-cooperation. "Jane, do something useful and go help Cho talk to the owners of the warehouse."

"Do you think it's odd that they're staying in the same hotel as us?"

"It's the only one in town, Jane. Where else would they stay?"

Jane ignored her response. "Did you notice what was odd about that final speech of Mr Giles'?"

"No, but I'm sure you'll enlighten me."

"He said they were anxious to make sure Wood's killers 'whatever' they are were brought to justice. Whatever they are? What's he expecting, the bogeyman as a suspect?"

"Slip of the tongue?" Lisbon frowned as she spoke. Giles hadn't seemed like the type to make that sort of error; he was the sort who would be a stickler for proper punctuation and would read a thesaurus for relaxation. She sighed; Jane could always be relied on to make a simple case complicated and it looked like this time would be no different.


	2. Chapter 2

Lisbon gathered her team back together for dinner in the hotel restaurant. To Rigsby's delight, she assured them that this was all on expenses, so they could order what they liked. Once the food had been ordered, and a nice bottle of red wine had been opened, she got back to business, asking for reports on what each agent had been up to that day.

Cho was first. "I checked out the warehouse owner, boss. James Madison is clean, completely legitimate business man, who had no links with the deceased. He said he locked the warehouse at 8pm last night, when he went home, and when he opened up again this morning at 9am, he found Wood's body."

"Does he have anything to do with the old Santa Cruz Hospital?"

"Nope, just that he heard it was up for sale and a couple of buyers were interested. He runs a small storage facility in the back end of nowhere boss, and he's got no interest in doing anything else. He was bowling with friends at the probable time of the murder, confirmed by the manager of the bowling alley. He's clean. Even Jane agrees with me there."

They all looked at the consultant, who was deep in thought. "Hmm? Oh, right James Madison. He's got nothing to do with it, just owned a handy, almost empty warehouse."

"Something bothering you?" Cho asked.

"Not really. Well, just that Willow Rosenberg didn't strike me as the type who would be any good at cold-reading. They didn't know who I was, didn't know we would be the ones called in, so she couldn't have done any research, and yet her conclusions…." He trailed off. "It's just odd. Probably a lucky guess." He paused again. "But it was a little too specific for just a guess."

"So you think she's psychic?" Van Pelt grinned.

"No." Jane frowned. "She's not psychic. I don't know what she is."

"I do: she is not a suspect, therefore she's not important." Lisbon tried to divert the conversation back towards the case. "Van Pelt, what did you get from forensics?"

The redhead shrugged awkwardly. "Not much I'm afraid. Wood was shot twice with a .357 calibre bullet, likely from a Sig Sauer, but I'm waiting on ballistics to confirm exactly what gun was used. He was shot at close range, as there was some stippling around the wound. So far, CSU hasn't found the point of entry, as it doesn't look like forced entry, and they haven't found any fingerprints that don't belong to the deceased or to James Madison. No foreign fibres, no prints, no DNA. Whoever did it, got in and out without leaving a trace."

"Sunnydale," Rigsby sighed. "We should have known."

Van Pelt nodded. "It looks that way – this could be a weird one."

"OK, I realise I'm not a cop and therefore I missed the top secret briefing back in police school, but what the hell is the problem with Sunnydale and why is that going to make this a weird one?" Jane's voice had risen as he spoke until he was almost shouting. At a look from Lisbon, he visibly calmed down. "I just don't like being kept in the dark."

"Well, now you know how I feel." At least Jane had the decency to look sheepish at that, Lisbon considered. "As I said, Sunnydale was just a centre for weirdness. Rumours about vampires and ghosts and all sorts of bizarre things came from there."

"There was one time when the entire town lost their voice for a day," Van Pelt said. "And all the news reports just put it down to mass laryngitis. And then they all recovered the next day. Bizarre is an understatement for most of the stories from Sunnydale."

"And how would you know? You're from the Mid West!" Jane stopped, looked at Van Pelt again, his eyes slightly narrowed in what Lisbon had come to think of as his mind reading pose. "Except you've always been fascinated by the occult and even though you'd like to be thought of as an intelligent and rational human being, you secretly believe all that mumbo-jumbo, which is why you still think, in your heart of hearts, that I'm psychic."

Van Pelt looked a little shaken, as she always did when Jane revealed her secrets, so Lisbon, once again, got the conversation back on topic. "Regardless of any of that, Van Pelt, get CSU to go over everything again tomorrow. They might have missed something. Rigsby, what did you find out about the Santa Cruz Hospital? Who else is after purchasing it?"

"Apparently, there are three parties interested in the hospital. One, a group called Scarlet Spas International, wants to turn it into a luxury boutique hotel and spa. There was Robin Wood's group, International Council of Watchers, who hadn't told the owner exactly why they wanted it, but he got the feeling it was for some sort of school. And then there was a private enquiry from Richard Granger, who wanted it for reasons unknown. All three approached the owner, one Cora Hatcher, independently, without the help of a realtor and the two companies offered the exact asking price. Richard Granger only went as high as one million."

Cho stared. "One million _dollars_? For a wreck of a building like that? What the hell is the asking price?"

"$1.5 million."

"Cho's right: that is a little expensive." Lisbon bit her lip for a moment as she thought. "Rigsby, tomorrow I want you and Cho to go speak with Scarlet Spas, find out how they discovered the Hospital was for sale, find out what they wanted with it and see if they've heard of the International Council of Watchers. Jane, you and I will take Richard Granger. Van Pelt, I want you to start looking into Rupert Giles and his band of merry men. There's something they're not telling us and I want to be prepared. I also want to know exactly what this International Council actually does."

"Got it boss," the three agents agreed. Jane was once again lost in thought.

* * *

"So what are we thinking?" Buffy was sitting on one of large sofas in the Premier Suite of the Hotel Santa Cruz. It might not be the Ritz, but these days the Scoobies took whatever luxuries they could. Life might as well be enjoyed while you still had it. "Did Robin die in normal circumstances, or is this something that we need to be dealing with ourselves?"

Willow, who had just finished eavesdropping on the CBI's conversation through a little magic, swayed as she stood up and helped herself to a slice of the pizza they'd ordered from room service. "Goddess, I know that wasn't difficult, but it can be so tiring to listen in like that. Next time, I vote we just get Xander to hang around on the next table."

"Hey, why do I get the crappy jobs? You know they'd see me and then there'd be all the questions and interrogations and probably some torture…"

"Xander, the California Bureau of Investigation is unlikely to torture you just for listening to their conversation." Giles' tone of voice said that he would understand if they did though. "What's your interpretation Willow? Supernatural, or just plain criminal?"

"Well, they all think it's just a normal murder." Willow sighed and shuddered a little. "As though there's ever a thing called a normal murder. There was one little oddity though: apparently, there was no trace of anyone but Robin and the warehouse owner at the crime scene, and the owner's alibi checks out."

"Vampires?"

"Vamps tend not to use guns though," Buffy disagreed with Dawn's suggestion. "Well, except for that one time with Darla, but she was trying to kill me at the time, so I'm not sure that really counts."

"Well, something else that was able to get in and out without leaving a forensic trace then. Grissom said that everything leaves a trace." There was a collective groan. Dawn had become slightly addicted to all three CSI shows and had taken to quoting them at inopportune moments. "What? It's true!"

"So what now? Do we leave the police to it, or shall we interfere a little?" Xander, wisely, changed the subject away from CSI.

"I was thinking we should look around a little first, you know, check them out, check out the crime scene, that sort of thing," Buffy replied.

"Oh goody, more felonies!"

"Xander, we don't need to go to the crime scene to look around," Willow reminded him. "I'll just work a little spell and we'll be able to tell if there's been any demonic activity in the warehouse in the last week or so."

"And it's research mode for me," Dawn volunteered. "I'll run background checks on our friendly neighbourhood police officers and the scrumptious Patrick Jane."

"Dawn, he is way too old for you," Buffy began, alarmed, when she saw Dawn start giggling. "I know, I promised no more over-protective older sister stuff, but some things are just in the blood. And besides, you heard Willow. Grief, loss and guilt. Gosh, he must be a real fun guy to hang with."

"Still scrumptious though," Dawn pointed out. "And there's no harm in enjoying the view."

"Hah! That's what I said shortly before that Mantis lady tried to bite my head off! Or was it what I said on one of the hundred other occasions when cute lady turns into nasty demon?"

"Xander, that's just you. And there's nothing demony about Patrick Jane. He's just a very sad, lost soul." Willow sighed. "I'm glad none of you saw his aura."

"That bad?" Giles frowned. Damaged auras could be a weakness that any supernatural entity in the area could use to further their own cause. As an ex-psychic, Jane could be in danger as he clearly didn't believe in the occult, and so wouldn't take any precautions against any demons that might decide he would be handy tool.

"That bad." Willow shook her head sadly. "But there was something else about him; it felt as though there was someone, maybe more than one, watching over him. I'm not sure who or what, but it felt benevolent, not evil."

"Don't tell me: he's got a guardian angel. Why did he get one and I didn't?" Buffy whined, but she smiled as she reached for another piece of pizza. The Scoobies were together again, working as well as always and it felt good. If it hadn't been for Robin's death, this would have counted as one of the most enjoyable days she'd had in months. Sobered at the thought of their friend, Buffy sat back down. "Whoever did this, let's make sure they pay. Robin was one of us. No one gets away with hurting one of us."


	3. Chapter 3

Richard Granger was a tall, slightly built man of about fifty five. Dark hair that was in the process of turning an attractive silver was cropped to almost military shortness, and his dark eyes stared at Lisbon and Jane suspiciously. They met him at his large country estate just outside the town, surrounded by the vineyards he owned. The Mexican-style hacienda was stylishly decorated, a fact that struck Jane as odd, given the extremely conservative clothes Granger was wearing.

"Mr Granger, we're investigating the death of Robin Wood, who was one of the opposing bidders for the Santa Cruz Hospital," Lisbon began after the introductions. "Your name came up in connection with that sale."

"Yes, I'm interested in trying to acquire that property." Granger was polite but cold. He hadn't offered them drinks and he was clearly picking his words with care. Jane stood up and walked over to the mantelpiece, where a number of photographs stood. It also happened that his new position meant that Granger would only be able to have one of them in eye sight at any one time, but the consultant doubted Granger would realise that. "What are you doing there? Those are private!"

Jane picked up the most prominent of the photos, a shot of Granger and a woman who, judging by the happy expressions and matching rings, was his wife. "Then why are they openly displayed?" He didn't wait for an answer. "This is your wife?"

"That was my wife, yes." Granger stood, snatched back the photo and reverently placed it back on the shelf, adjusting the angle minutely until he was satisfied. "Maggie died eight years ago. Cancer."

"I'm sorry." For a moment, Jane let his sincerity show.

Lisbon called Granger back to their reason for visiting. "Sir, can you tell me why you were willing to pay one million dollars for the Hospital?"

He twitched slightly. "You wouldn't believe me."

"Try us. We're really gullible." Lisbon shot Jane a look that she hoped conveyed her message of 'that's not helpful', but from the bright smile she got in return, she doubted he took her point.

"The Santa Cruz Hospital is now located on a convergence of ley lines that means the site has significant powers to help those who can channel those who have died." Granger looked wary, as though he expected to be laughed at for his words. As he should, Jane considered. Ley lines! "I thought, if I could acquire the property, I could use it to maybe get in touch with Maggie, maybe talk to her again."

Jane didn't bother hiding his smile, though he took care to keep the ridicule out of his voice. "Wouldn't you need the help of a medium to contact the dead?"

"That's the beauty of this convergence," Granger said with more enthusiasm now that it appeared Jane had accepted his theory. "My research shows that all it would take is the proper ritual and it should be possible to summon a spirit from beyond. I've got all the books and supplies I'd need, so I just needed the property."

"Couldn't you just break in?" Jane ignored Lisbon's glare. She raised her eyes in disbelief. This was not a helpful line of questioning, but she knew Jane too well to think he'd let her get back on topic without getting the full story from Granger first. "Wouldn't that be easier?"

"Easier in theory Mr Jane. You see, you need to be the owner of the land for the ley lines to resonate in the correct manner. Otherwise, you'd need to be a magic user of considerably more power and experience than me to get the convergence to work properly."

"You were willing to waste one million dollars on a piece of land based on ley lines?" Jane shook his head. "Mr Granger, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but there is no life after death. This, the here and now, this is all we have."

To Lisbon's surprise, Granger only looked at Jane with pity in his eyes. "I'm sorry for you, that you can't see the truth. And even if the money was wasted, I'd waste every penny I have on any scheme that gave me a chance to see my wife again. Isn't there someone you'd give everything to speak to, one last time?"

Jane looked away, the grief he usually kept hidden written clearly on his face and Lisbon took the opportunity to turn the conversation back to the case. "Mr Granger, were you aware that there were two competing bids for the property, both of which were higher than yours?"

"I knew."

"So you were aware that you would not be able to purchase the property?"

"Yes." Granger sagged back into the sofa, as though exhausted. "I went to see Miss Hatcher, talk to her, explain why I needed to own the place."

"And what did she say?"

"That she was sorry but she needed to money to help out her nephew who was going bankrupt. That the Watchers would help me. That she was going to sell it to them and that they could help me." Granger stared at his hands before he met Lisbon's eyes. "Do you know them? Will they help me?"

"This would be the International Council of Watchers?" she clarified.

"I guess," he shrugged. "I'd never heard of them till we both went for the hospital."

Lisbon nodded at Jane. "OK, thank you for your time Mr Granger." She waited until she was at the door until she turned back. "One final question: where were you two nights ago?"

"Here. Alone." He blinked and looked shocked as the meaning of her question hit home. "Wait, you think I killed that man?"

"Just routine," Lisbon said with a small smile as they left. She waited until they were in the car and headed back to Santa Cruz before she asked, "So what did you make of him Jane? Crazy as they come, that's a given, but do you think he's guilty?"

"Crazy as they come," he agreed with a smile. "Guilty? I'm not sure. He's convinced of the truth of this ley lines business and he's desperate enough to do anything to make it work, but whether he actually did this isn't clear. If someone or something makes Scarlet Spas pull out, then I'd say it's definitely him, but if they're still in the running…."

"Why would he kill the competition that might be inclined to help him out?"

"Exactly." He shot Lisbon an approving look. "You know, you're getting better at this."

"Oh shut up Jane."

* * *

"Giles, I think we might have a slight problem." Willow hovered nervously by the Watcher's elbow. He groaned. Years of living with the Scoobies had led him to understand 'slight problem' as 'big problem, although probably not apocalyptic'.

"Don't tell me: there was demonic activity in the warehouse." Giles watched as Willow bounced a couple of times on her feet but didn't say anything. "Willow?"

"You said don't tell you."

"Wills, I'm shocked. That's the sort of lame-ass joke I normally make." Xander handed her a coke and made her sit down. "Seriously Willow, what's the what?"

"There's traces of a J'Narlak demon in the warehouse."

"Janar-what?"

"J'Narlak demons are basically humanoid in appearance, with distinctive blue markings on their hands. Other than those markings, they look human, meaning as long as people accept the markings as an odd tattoo, there's no reason for them to hide from society," Giles lectured absentmindedly. "They are extremely strong and fast and difficult to kill, as well as have advanced healing. As a result, they're popular as assassins."

"Great." Xander was pretty certain he was speaking for the group. "How'd you kill one?"

"There are two ways: fire, which is a safe bet for most demons, and a weapon made of gold." Giles gestured vaguely towards Dawn's laptop that sat on the coffee table. "I'd need to access our files to check on the exact carat of gold necessary. Suffice to say, a cheap knock off is not going to work."

"Where is Research Kid and her crazy big sister anyway? I was only gone for snacks for maybe ten minutes."

"Xander, you were gone half an hour."

"Picky, picky, picky G-Man."

Giles went to tell him not to call him that, caught himself and smiled instead. Xander would always be Xander and that was something to be infinitely grateful for. "Buffy needed to talk to Faith and Dawn went with her. They shouldn't be long." He turned back to Willow. "So are we saying that this J'Narlak demon is Robin's likely killer?"

"The magical trace shows that it was there at roughly the same time that Robin died," she replied. "It's very likely."

"What's likely?" Buffy burst back into the room, closely followed by Dawn. "We get good stuff of the bad guys?"

"We got good stuff," Willow confirmed. "Well, sort of. I mean, we know what did it, we just don't know exactly who and we certainly don't know who made whoever did it do it and we don't know why they did it, but yes, we know what did it." Buffy ran through that speech again in her mind, thought it through again and then nodded.

"Gotcha. Want to know what we got?"

"I thought you were going for a walk," Giles reproved the world's oldest Slayer gently. "I thought you were going to go for a walk and call Faith. You said you would stay away from the crime scene."

Faith and Robin had broken up not long after Sunnyhell went kablooie, but the world's second oldest Slayer had still taken the news hard. That had been why both Summers girls had gone to make the phone call. Buffy had promised to make whoever did it pay – and judging by Faith's tone, it was a good luck she was currently fighting rampaging hordes of vampires who had attacked a small town in Finland, inside the Arctic Circle where it was currently night 24 hours a day. Not only did it give Faith something to take out her anger on, but it also kept her too occupied to come and cause chaos in Santa Cruz.

"We didn't do anything!" Buffy and Dawn chorused together, looking hurt.

"Well, it wasn't our fault," Buffy continued. "We were on our way back to the hotel, when we spotted some of those CBI agents, those two men, not Patrick Jane. So, we sort of listened in."

"And guess what?" Dawn paused before saying triumphantly, "They know all about the ley lines! We heard them say that Agent Lisbon and Jane had found out about it from one of the others who wanted to buy the place. Apparently, the guy wanted to speak to his dead wife. Oh my God." She stopped suddenly and went pale. "Oh that poor man."

"What?" Buffy was instantly concerned.

"I was going to tell you all about when we got back from our walk. My research into the CBI showed up some stuff. Nothing from our side of the demonic tracks, but there was something. Patrick Jane's wife and child were murdered by a serial killer five years ago, after he said on TV that he was helping the police psychically find the killer, who goes by the name of Red John. Red John left a note basically saying that this wouldn't happen if Jane hadn't mocked him on national television. Then he walked into his house and found their bodies."

"Sheesh, some people take mocking so personally," Xander said with a shake of his head.

"Xander!" Willow sighed. "Well, at least that explains the aura. Poor man."

"And to find out this is all about ley lines and trying to raise the dead…." Dawn looked embarrassed. "Do you think we should go find him and give him a group hug?"

"So that's why Mr Jane gave up his promising career," Giles mused. "I had wondered…." He took his glasses off and started polishing them absently. "Willow, you'd better tell Buffy what you found out."

Once a J'Narlak demon had been explained to her, Buffy was still frowning. "So we've got a super-strong baddie who's good at killing, but he uses a gun? Is it me, or does that not make much sense?"

"It depends on the contract. The client might have requested that this not look like demonic activity."

"Might even be a warning to others," Xander offered. "It's very Godfather, very Mafia, don't you think? Stay off my turf, or suffer the consequences kinda deal."

"So what do we do? The police aren't going to believe us, but they won't catch the bad guys without our help."

"From all I've seen Buffy, these officers might be able to catch the bad guys without us. Oh, they won't find the shooter, but they might be able to find the people who paid for this to happen." At her incredulous look, he added, "We're not in Sunnydale any longer."

"Don't I know it."


	4. Chapter 4

Rigsby and Cho had had limited success at Scarlet Spas, a company based in Los Angeles, but with offices in San Francisco and San Diego. They also had a small base in Miranda, the next town along from Santa Cruz. It was there that Rigsby and Cho had attempted to get information about the Santa Cruz Hospital and had met with a very polite and very uninformative receptionist, who had agreed it was a tragedy that Mr Wood was dead and that she would get in contact with Ms Julia Davidson, who had been negotiating to purchase the hospital, but that Ms Davidson was out of town currently.

"Basically boss, it was a waste of time," Rigsby concluded.

"Yeah? Well, our guy believes the hospital is the only way of contacting his long dead wife, so don't talk to me about wasted time." Lisbon grimaced. "Doesn't mean Granger isn't our guy though."

"Doesn't mean he is either. A man that deluded would struggle to plan such a near perfect crime scene," Jane pointed out. "The scene was forensically clean. That takes a level of planning that I'm not sure Mr Granger has."

"Maybe he watches a lot of CSI," Rigsby suggested with a grin.

"He's also a millionaire businessman who runs his own vineyard," Cho reminded them. "Not exactly scatter-brained."

Van Pelt walked back into the office they had commandeered from the local police, carrying a sheaf of papers. Having spent all day on the computer running background checks, she was pale and tired, but smiled brightly at Rigsby when he handed her a cup of coffee. Jane nudged Lisbon under the table at the by-play, but she studiously ignored him. "What do you have Van Pelt?"

"Lots. I'm not sure how much of this is helpful or even relevant though. The International Council of Watchers was set up five years ago by Rupert Giles and Buffy Summers as a research company on ancient artefacts. They also run several schools around the world for 'gifted girls'. There's one in Cleveland, one in Wiltshire, England and one in Hong Kong. They're invitation only schools, and no one seems to know the criteria for getting an invitation."

"Odd combination," Cho frowned.

"You have no idea. The ICW, as it's known, is a replacement company of the Watchers' Council, a British organisation that has historical roots going back to the dawn of time, but no information on what they actually do. The only thing on record is that the Watchers' Council was blown up not long before Sunnydale disappeared into the ground, and that shortly after the collapse, the ICW was set up, using funds from the original Watchers' Council."

"How does Rupert Giles fit into this? The others are all the same age, or at least related. What's he to the other kids?"

"He was their High School Librarian." At the laughs, Van Pelt shook her head. "I know, I didn't believe it either. You should see his academic credentials: a PhD in Ancient History from Oxford, another one in Ancient Languages from Cambridge. He worked as a curator for the British Museum before suddenly moving to Sunnydale and becoming the librarian."

"He worked for the British Museum and gave it up to become a school librarian?" Lisbon rolled her eyes. "It would be nice, just once, to get a case that makes sense. Is there anything to suggest he abused his position? That's a pretty big drop in salary and position he took there. Did he do it for any known reason?"

"He's not abusing Buffy Summers and her friends and he never has." Jane spoke with his usual authority and, as usual, the others all turned to listen. "They look at him as a father figure and they all trust him totally. He's close to all of them, but especially so with Buffy Summers. The way he looked at her was the way a father looks at his daughter. He loves her."

Lisbon thought about saying something about Jane's own daughter, about how he obviously recognised that look, caught the expression on his face and instead gestured for Van Pelt to go on. "What about Buffy and Dawn Summers?"

"There's not much to go on, I'm afraid. Most of their records were lost in the Sunnydale crater, same for the other two. The Summers moved to Sunnydale when Buffy got expelled from her old school in LA for burning down the school gym, but her Sunnydale transcripts were lost in the disaster."

"She burnt down the school gym?" Rigsby tried and failed to hide a grin. "Seriously?"

"Seriously. The old High School also got blown up on Summers, Harris and Rosenberg's graduation day. That made state newspapers. Apparently, it was a gas leak. Luckily, the ceremony was being held outside, so fatalities were limited, but the Mayor Richard Wilkins was killed in the blast."

"Stuff sure blows up a lot around Buffy Summers," Cho commented dryly.

"It may do, but she's not a suspect for Wood's murder. I checked with the airlines, and it shows all five of them flying into LAX after time of death. The Summers sisters and Rupert Giles flew in from London, Harris and Rosenberg from Cleveland." Van Pelt leaned back in her chair, exhausted after doing all the talking.

Lisbon tapped a pen against the table as she thought. "Right, Jane, you and Cho go speak with Rupert Giles. Try and get him on his own, or at least not all of them present. You'll probably get more if he feels he isn't protecting one of his kids. Rigsby, go check back with forensics, see if they came up with anything else. Van Pelt, you and I will go see Cora Hatcher. This all comes back to this Hospital, so let's go see what the owner has to say."

Van Pelt followed her boss out to the car. "Thanks for letting me out of the office."

Lisbon gave her a sympathetic glance. "You're the newbie on the team, so you will get stuck in the office more than the others. That's just how it works. But you did good with that research into the ICW, so you deserve a little fresh air."

"Appreciate it, boss."

"Just keep up the good work."


	5. Chapter 5

Patrick Jane could tell when someone had heard his sob story. The way they reacted changed, they looked at him with sympathy, or worse pity, and they were careful about talking about their own families. No one ever said anything directly, but it was obvious when they knew. It never did any good, he never felt any better about anything knowing that people knew. The unthinking, unknowing comments most people made about family didn't bother him. He'd lost his family, but that was no call for others to hide the fact they were luckier than him. Hell, as long as they appreciated what they had, he was glad for them. But he could always tell when they knew.

Dawn Summers and Rupert Giles knew. It was in the look in their eyes. And then Dawn did something that thoroughly surprised him. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly for a long moment before pulling back and saying, "I am so sorry about your family."

That even broke through Cho's poker face. Jane gaped, fought for emotional control over himself, just about managed it and then Rupert Giles shook his hand firmly and said, "As am I. I cannot imagine what you must have gone through."

Without asking, Jane sat down on the sofa in their suite and buried his head in his hands, taking several deep breaths before he looked up. "Well, thank you for ruining my good mood," he managed to say in a normal tone of voice.

"Sorry," Giles said, actually sounding apologetic. "We've lost people we loved too, and frankly I am well aware that all the sympathy in the world is of no use to you. But Dawn only told us an hour ago, and I'm afraid we both acted without thinking. I apologise if we made you uncomfortable."

Cho looked deeply awkward, so Jane made himself smile. "Well, now we've got those pleasantries out of the way, shall we talk about the reason we came here?"

"Of course." Giles smiled politely. "Can I offer anyone a cup of tea?"

Once they had drinks, and Cho and Dawn had suffered through Giles and Jane discussing the proper ways to make a cup of tea and whether Darjeeling was better than Earl Grey, Cho managed to get them back to the reason they were actually here. "We need to ask you why you were interested in purchasing the Santa Cruz Hospital. We think that Mr Wood's murder is linked to that property."

"Robin suggested we might use it as a research centre," Giles explained. "As it's nearby to Sunnydale, we were all a little cautious, but the plan he put forth was generally accepted."

"Why didn't you want to be near Sunnydale?"

"Bad memories," Dawn said shortly. Jane arched an eyebrow. That tone of voice didn't suggest a little school bullying, or a bad illness. That tone of voice said death and horror and too many nightmares for a young girl to handle. She looked at him and smiled a little ruefully. "Giles wasn't kidding when he said we lost people we loved too. Mom is buried somewhere in that crater. So are Tara, Anya and Jenny, all good friends of ours. And others, more than we can name here and now." Giles had flinched at Jenny's name.

"Why Santa Cruz? What was so special about the place?" He deliberately didn't ask who the women were. They'd discussed grief enough for one day.

"Ley lines," Giles replied with a slight smirk. Cho winced and Jane rolled his eyes. "I take it neither of you are believers then?"

"I think I can safely say no to that one," Cho said dryly.

"The convergence is now centred on the old hospital," Dawn explained. "Robin's plan highlighted the ley lines, which is why we thought it might be a good idea to make sure no one else was able to abuse that power."

"You're the second person to say that the convergence is now around the hospital," Jane said with a bright smile. "I wasn't aware that ley lines skipped about at all. Isn't the whole point that they're in the same place all the time?"

"When Sunnydale collapsed, it shifted several significant ley lines leading to Santa Cruz becoming a centre of power," Giles explained. "The collapse actually caused a lot of problems for all Wiccans and white magic practitioners as the shockwaves from the collapse shifted the boundaries of several magical areas." He caught the look on Jane's face and coughed. "But you're not interested in any of that."

"Not really, no," Jane said with as little sarcasm as he could manage. From the smile on Dawn's face, he hadn't had much success. "Are you aware that Richard Granger wants the property for the same reason?"

Giles looked helplessly at Dawn who nodded. "Yeah, Robin mentioned that the owner wanted us to help a Mr Granger when the property became ours. It wouldn't be a problem for us and Ms Hatcher said it would be condition of sale, so we'd have been happy to help out."

"You sound as though your interest in the property is over. Don't you want it any more?"

"Agent Cho, one of our close friends was murdered as a result of trying to buy the building. If we find out what happened to Robin, we will see if we can still secure the property, but frankly it has cast a shadow over the whole thing." Giles took his glasses off and started polishing the lenses. "May I ask what progress you're making on the case?"

As Cho and Giles were deep in discussion, with the agent politely but firmly explaining that he could not give out details on an active investigation, neither of them noticed Dawn hand Jane a note, and with a smile and a wink she indicated he should read it later.

* * *

Lisbon stretched as she got out of the car. Another trip that seemed to lead to a dead end. Cora Hatcher had been polite and helpful, but had clearly known little about the murder. Lisbon and Van Pelt had spent over an hour going over the paperwork from each of the three bids, but hadn't been able to spot anything unusual. The only truly odd thing was that Scarlet Spas International had also been interested as a result of the ley line convergence. Three parties, all with the same main interest? It would be enough for Jane to start truly getting frustrated. To be honest, Lisbon was actually enjoying seeing the consultant looking discomfited. Too often, Jane acted as though everything was water off a duck's back – almost nothing, with the exception of the Red John case, got under his skin. The link to the occult, however ridiculous it may be, was enough to irritate him, and that was enough to make Lisbon enjoy herself.

"Did you get anything boss?"

"Not much Rigsby," she said with a grimace. Still, at least Rigsby had thought ahead and got in the coffee and donuts. She helped herself to a chocolate coated one with pleasure. "Cora Hatcher had little to say, except that she had decided to sell it to the ICW, mainly because she didn't like Julia Davidson's companion. Apparently, he had disgusting blue tattoos all over his hands and Ms Hatcher took a dislike to him, so she wasn't going to sell the place to Scarlet Spas. Did forensics come up with anything?"

"They've matched the gun. It's a Sig Sauer, and it's been used in a number of hits across the country. There's never any other forensics at the scene – no prints, no DNA, nothing. Whoever the hitman is, they're good."

"These other hits; any link to any of the players in our little drama?"

"No so far, no."

Cho walked back in, nodded to Lisbon and Van Pelt and picked up a donut. "Hey boss."

"Rupert Giles give you anything except more ley lines?"

"Nope." Cho related Dawn hugging Jane to general amusement.

"Don't laugh," Van Pelt looked disapproving. "You know how touchy he is over that whole thing. He hates it when someone else picks up on his feelings rather than the other way around."

"True," Lisbon acknowledged, thinking that Jane's work with the CBI was useful for more than just closing cases. All her people had got better at reading the emotions and behaviour of those they encountered. So he wasn't all bad, she decided with a smile,before looking around. "Speaking of which, where is Jane?"

* * *

Buffy walked back into the hotel room with Xander and Willow, having just got off the phone with a very upset Faith, giving her an update on their progress. The dark-haired Slayer was still raging mad at the way Robin had died, but had luckily seen sense, this once at least. She'd agreed to stay in Finland out of the way, although Buffy was certain she'd heard mutterings that if they didn't sort it within three days, Faith would come and deal with this in her own way. Which would doubtless involve trouble of a very big sort.

She looked around the hotel suite and then back at Giles. "Where's Dawn gone?"


	6. Chapter 6

Jane came back to consciousness slowly, with a headache pounding at the base of his skull. It felt like he had taken a blow from a sledgehammer. This was a worse headache that that time Rigsby had bet him he couldn't drink a whole bottle of tequila in two hours. Jane had won the bet, and even made it home without mishap, but had paid dearly the next morning. He pushed himself up into a kneeling position and looked around blearily as he tried to remember what had happened. He'd gone to the Santa Cruz Hospital to meet with Dawn, as her note had asked – _Dawn_! Jane leapt to his feet, or attempted to, and spun around to search for the young girl. She was sitting calmly against the wall, watching him with concern. With relief, he noted that she looked unhurt. Then the room started spinning and he had to sit down.

"You OK? You took a pretty hard hit there." There was no anxiety in Dawn's voice, none, not even a little fear. Jane had to admit he was impressed. "You know, the key to a pleasant kidnapping is not to struggle. That way, they tend not to hit you."

"You get kidnapped a lot then?"

"Not so much these days," she replied with perfect truth and Jane stared. Then he winced as the pain spiked again and memories came back.

"Dawn," he said carefully, "I want you to tell me if I was imagining the bit when the man with the blue hands turned out to have a long, blue tongue. And if I was hallucinating when that pentacle on the floor was glowed red. And did that woman really summon a, a, well a thingy that had all sorts of tentacles?"

"Um. Yes. To all of those questions."

"Oh." Jane nodded. "Well, that's good. At least I haven't gone crazy." He waited a moment and then said, as calmly as he could manage, "So, you appear to know what's going on. Would you like to share?"

"You know I said that I could prove this place really was a convergence of ley lines and could be used in magical rituals?"

"Yes…."

"Well, there's your proof. Blue Hands is a J'Narlak demon, probably the guy who shot Robin. And the thingy with the tentacles was, um, a thingy. I'm not really sure, but it looked like it might have been Fsnor-Hasha demon. I think. My tentacle demonology is still a little rusty." She shifted uncomfortably on the hard floor. "I think we interrupted a major ritual, which is why they took us hostage."

"I think I hit my head harder than I first thought. That sounded like this is pretty everyday to you." Jane rubbed his aching head lightly. "And why aren't you bothered by any of this? I'm only not having a heart attack because frankly, my head hurts too much. That and I'm fairly sure this is all some sort of hallucination or nightmare or something."

"Don't worry," Dawn reassured him and again it struck Jane as beyond weird that the teenager was the one reassuring him, who was clearly meant to be the responsible adult in this scenario. "My sister will save us. I'll probably get no ice cream privileges for a month, 'cause I really should have told someone where we were going, but it's no biggie. And, um, no, you're not hallucinating. Um, this is all real."

"Of course it is," he replied. "Perfectly real. I think I'm having another breakdown." The last sentence was muttered quietly, but Dawn still heard.

"OK, Giles does this way better than I do, I think it's all in the accent, but here goes," she took a deep breath and continued, "The world, contrary to popular belief did not begin as a paradise…."

* * *

Lisbon was getting worried. Jane hadn't been seen since he and Cho had spoken with Rupert Giles, meaning that he had now been missing for four hours. He wasn't answering his cell and none of the local police officers had seen him. She headed back to the hotel, having spent several hours checking with every officer she could find that they hadn't seen him and found Buffy Summers in a similar state of anxiety.

"Have you seen Jane?"

"Have you seen Dawn?"

The two women paused, looked at each other and with perfect synchronisation rolled their eyes and said, "Oh for God's sake!"

"Dawn left the hotel room just after your guys," Buffy explained. "She told Giles she was just going for a walk. None of us have seen her since. What's your story?"

"Jane told Cho he'd meet him back at the station and so far, he's a no-show. You got any ideas where they might go?"

"A few," Buffy said grimly and Lisbon reassessed her opinion of the pretty, cheerful young woman. Here was someone who would not hesitate to do anything necessary to protect her sister. "Where are the rest of your guys?"

"Cho and Rigsby have gone back to visit Richard Granger, in case Jane's gone there. Van Pelt's back at the office, manning the phones. Why?"

"That makes it easier. You can come, but I'd rather your whole team wasn't involved." Lisbon went to interrupt, to ask what the hell was going on, but Buffy carried on regardless. "They'll be at the Hospital and they're probably in a lot of trouble, or they'd be back already. Wait here, I'll go get the others and then we'll go be big damn heroes for my pain in the ass little sister. Again." She disappeared before Lisbon had a chance to ask any questions.

When they reappeared, Buffy was carrying what looked like a large broadsword. "You can't have that with you!" Lisbon protested, not wanting to consider how many felonies wandering around with that weapon constituted. She purposely didn't think about how easily the petite blonde held the large weapon.

Buffy simply looked at her and walked past. Giles gestured for Lisbon to keep up and she turned to follow them, not quite knowing what she was doing. Jane appeared to trust these people and he was never wrong, but that wasn't going to look good on her report at the end of this. "Agent Lisbon, I know Buffy can be a little, how can I put this? Oh yes, a little like a force of nature, but I assure you, she will rescue Dawn and your fellow agent."

"Consultant," she corrected automatically. "Jane is definitely not a cop."

"Well, you might say we are," Giles replied with a smile. "We deal with things that normal people, normal police officers, cannot deal with. You're going to see things that can't be explained logically, but I would ask you to keep your questions for later and try to stay out of the way as much as possible. Buffy is more than capable of handling this on her own."

"So why are we all going with her?"

"For fun?" Xander offered with a grin. "Besides, it's not often we Scoobs get to work together anymore, so it's sort of like a reunion."

"Oh." Lisbon tried to think up some other argument, but Buffy turned and fixed her with the sort of glare that could have curdled milk.

"Agent Lisbon, I'm doing you a favour by letting you come with on this one. You don't have to and I don't have time for any more questions. So either shut up and hurry up, or go away. Either choice, I'm going to rescue my sister now."

Lisbon considered her options, shrugged and hurried after the group. After all, she was the only one allowed to kill Jane.


	7. Chapter 7

Jane hadn't believed much of Dawn's story, although he had to admit it was a coherent, well thought out tale. There were few logical gaps in the story and it made sense, in a warped way. Still, she was utterly convinced of the truth of it – there wasn't a hint of falsehood or even sarcasm in her voice as she had told him about demons and vampires and Slayers. The one piece of information that had given him pause was that Buffy was apparently one of these Slayers. It certainly would explain her utter confidence in herself, and the natural leadership he had seen the others defer to. But it was all utter rubbish of course. He probably hadn't even seen what he thought he had. It was bound to be as a result of the whack on the head.

Thus reassured, he turned his attention to escape. There was a broken light in the small room Jane and Dawn were being held in. It had caught his attention because of the way it flickered intermittently and he had an idea of how to make use of that. Now, all he needed was an opportunity.

That opportunity came when Julia Davidson walked into the room. She was a tall, elegant blonde, dressed in a sharp business suit and carrying a silver dagger. The dagger didn't really go, he considered, but it did match the earrings she was wearing.

"Ah, you must be Julia Davidson, the person trying to acquire this property for Scarlet Spas International," he began with his most charming smile. She looked taken back so he continued, "You see, I know most of the people involved in this little mess now, but I don't know you, so you must be Julia Davidson. I am right, aren't I?"

"Yes." She frowned. "And you must be the annoyingly correct Patrick Jane."

"The one and only," he grinned. He could almost see Dawn's sarcastic expression, despite having his back to the girl. "Now Julia," he said, his voice dropping lower and he stepped in to make it more intimate. "Julia, I want you to look at that light, that light right there. See how it flickers? On and off, on and off. Keep looking at it. On and off, on and off. Keep looking. You see how it flashes? Keep watching it and you'll see it. On and off, on and off."

Dawn watched in amazement as Jane's voice got lower and softer, making Julia Davidson have to listen harder as she watched the light flicker. As the woman slipped into a light trance, Dawn decided that once Buffy had rescued them, she was going to make Patrick Jane to teach her how to do this. He tapped the woman's shoulder lightly and she stared blankly ahead.

"Julia, I need you to tell me what you're doing here. Now, Julia."

"We're going to open the portal to the Hell dimensions," she said immediately. "The convergence here makes it easier to use, and then we're going to summon back to earth our master, who was sent to Hell when Sunnydale collapsed." She didn't notice Jane's dumbfounded expression. It was impossible for someone to lie when in a trance, so this delusion about demons must be deep-seated. "We were in the middle of the first ritual when you interrupted. Now I think we will have to kill you, but we will let the Slayer's sister go."

"You don't need to kill me," he said firmly. "You can let both of us go."

"I can let you both go," she repeated.

"Good, Julia, very good. Now tell me what happened to Robin Wood."

"He was looking into things he shouldn't. We had to kill him. The partners at the company all agreed it was the only course of action."

The door to the room slammed open and Blue Hands walked in, took one look at the situation and back-handed Jane casually across the cheek. It was a careless blow, with little strength behind it, yet it knocked the consultant off his feet and left him sprawled on the floor, stars bursting in front of his eyes.

"You idiot woman!" he yelled at Julia, who blinked, swayed, but said nothing. Blue Hands hauled Jane to his feet. "Snap her out of it now, or I will hurt the girl." He gestured towards Dawn, but Jane was already moving to tap Julia on the shoulder again. He was not about to let the young girl get hurt as a result of his actions. He wasn't sure he could stand any more guilt. Then Blue Hands let Jane drop to the floor. "You two stay here. We will be back for you soon."

Dawn waited until the door was firmly shut before she moved to check on Jane. "That looked like it hurt," she commiserated. "J'Narlaks are really strong. I should have warned you about that."

"Ow."

"On the plus side, that was seriously cool! I can't believe you just hypnotised her like that!"

"Ow."

"You're going to have to teach me how to do that! I can't wait to try it out on Xander or Andrew. Oh, this is going to be such fun!"

"Ow."

"Oh, right. Sorry."

* * *

Lisbon was impressed at the speed and efficiency that Buffy worked with. In no time, she'd reconnoitred the hospital, noted all possible entrances and exits and come up with a plan of attack. Giles had taken the opportunity to explain a few things to Lisbon, namely that they were going up against magical enemies, and while she wasn't sure she believed him, she was equally willing to let the matter rest for now. Whoever was in there had kidnapped her consultant and, pain in the ass though he was, he was her pain in the ass. Besides, she had her gun, and a spare magazine. Whoever was in there, Lisbon was confident of her ability to deal with it, without needing help from Buffy Summers and her friends.

"OK, everybody know the deal?"

"Yes sir, General Buffy, sir!" Xander snapped to attention and gave a salute.

Buffy grinned. "Xander, you're hopeless. Lisbon, you stick near Giles, he'll take care of you. Let's go people, before anyone decides to sacrifice Dawn again."

"Don't stress, Buff, it's not a Tuesday." And with that perplexing comment, Xander and Willow moved around to the other side of the warehouse, to cut off any escape. Buffy, Giles and Lisbon walked up to the dead-bolted front door of the main hospital building. Buffy, without any apparent effort, punched in the lock and the door swung open. Lisbon stood in open-mouthed shock before hurrying to catch up with Giles. All of a sudden, she thought she might just be out of her depth.

The scene that greeted her was straight out of a B-movie. Julia Davidson and a man with blue hands stood at two points of a glowing red pentacle, out of which a growing monster was appearing. It had at least ten tentacles that Lisbon could count and a monstrous mouth, gaping open to reveal sharp white teeth. Dawn was tied to a chair, off to one side, while Jane was tied to a concrete pillar, directly in the monster's path.

Julia Davidson didn't seem to notice their entry. "Oh Master, we have brought you back! See, we have a gift for you! We have brought food." She waved a hand towards Jane who looked frozen with fear. He also had a truly impressive bruise on one cheekbone.

"Wow, does this place need redecorating!"

The monster, Julia and the man with blue hands all turned to stare at Buffy as she made her entrance. Jane was still staring horror-struck at the tentacled nightmare in front of him. "Slayer!"

"Jarlak demon person," she greeted him, ignoring Giles' muttered correction of her pronunciation. "How's it hanging? I hear you killed a buddy of mine. Not a big fan of that sort of thing, really. And now you're got my sister. Did somebody miss the memo? I was sure I asked Giles to send it out. No kidnapping Dawn, or I send your bony ass to Hell. Did you not hear about that?"

The demon didn't answer, just leapt at Buffy with a roar of rage. Lisbon went to yell a warning, but Giles merely laid a hand on her arm and she watched in amazement as Buffy drew her sword with lightning reflexes and slashed across the demon's chest. Then she went on the attack, driving him backwards, drawing blood with almost every blow. Lisbon watched in growing horror as the first few wounds the demon had sustained closed up, leaving unmarked skin behind.

"She never listens," Giles muttered, going to untie Dawn. Xander and Willow appeared through the opposite door and didn't even blink at the scene before them. Torn between watching the fight and doing something useful, Lisbon decided on the latter. She untied Jane quickly and dragged him out of the path of the monster.

The thing lurched towards them, and Lisbon couldn't hold in a scream as its jaws gaped ever wider. It was still heading slowly towards them with Julia Davidson egging it on. "Yes, my Master, take both of them!"

Buffy was still hacking at the demon with the blue hands, but he didn't seem to tire, even with all the wounds she was inflicting on him. Giles snapped off part of the chair that Dawn had been tied to, handed it to Willow and said, "Would you mind?"

In an instant, the spar of wood was ablaze. "Buffy! This way," Willow called out and the blonde spun, nodded, and threw the sword like a spear, pinning the demon to the wall. It gave her time to get across the room, taking the flaming chair leg and then leap back into action, setting the blue hands on fire. There was a horrible scream as the demon lifted his hands to his face and started to melt into a blue puddle on the floor.

Buffy didn't even watch him die. She retrieved her sword, pointed it at the tentacled monster and said, "So you want your turn now?" The monster only had one eye, but it was firmly focused on the Slayer now, Lisbon and Jane forgotten. "Just so you know, I'm Buffy. The Vampire Slayer. You got any last words?"

The monster, without hesitation, moved straight back into the centre of red pentacle and disappeared in a flash of red light. Buffy pouted; a little girl deprived of her treat. "Your reputation for violence is obviously well known wherever ugly there was from," Xander said with a grin.

"But I wanted to kill it now!"

"Master!" Julia Davidson wailed, rushing forward to the pentacle. When it was clear the monster had disappeared and wasn't coming back, she turned to the group. "You took him from me!" She pointed at Jane. "You were meant to be his welcome feast!"

Lisbon pushed Jane out of the way and walked over to Julia before punching her hard in the nose. The taller woman collapsed into a heap. "She was really beginning to annoy me."


	8. Chapter 8

Patrick Jane sat in the Scoobies' hotel suite, holding a large ice pack to his aching cheek. Lisbon had already rung Cho and the others and got them to take charge of Julia Davidson. They were also to get warrants to search the offices and homes of the senior partners of Scarlet Spas International. The dark haired agent was now pacing impatiently up and down the suite, having been told the truth about demons and Slayers.

"You want to know what I don't get?" Xander asked. "I don't get how you can actually arrest Julia Davidson. I mean, aren't you going to get her in front of a judge have her say, oh yes, we ordered a demon to do it. I may have missed the boat on this one, but aren't you going to get laughed out of court?"

"No," Jane said, attempting a smile. This didn't work. It hurt to move his face at all. It hurt to talk too, but that had never stopped him. "Because I'm reckless but I'm not stupid. I taped her confession on my cell, and didn't record the bits where she mentioned demons or hell dimensions at that point. She also implicated the senior partners of her company, which is enough for a search warrant. I'm sure Cho, Rigsby and Van Pelt will find plenty of incriminating evidence once they start looking."

"Is that even admissible?" Giles asked, sounding shocked. "She was hypnotised!"

"Jane! I told you not to hypnotise people!" Lisbon glared at him before turning back to the Englishman. "It's admissible. Just. Besides, it's the only thing we've got. As Xander said, we can't tell a judge a demon did it." She ran a hand through her hair. "I can't even tell the rest of my team a demon did it."

"It's fine. We'll just say Julia Davidson and ol' Blue Hands kidnapped Dawn and I, but that he got away in the struggle. No one will ask any awkward questions, there'll be a big man hunt but no one will find anything and it will all be fine."

"Jane, I swear if you do anything this stupid again, I will let you get eaten next time." Lisbon actually sounded serious, he thought with a small smile. She sighed and sat down facing the blonde Slayer. "Buffy, I've seen what you can do and believe me, I was deeply impressed, but there must be something we can do to help? Surely if you had government backing…." She trailed off at the cold expression on Buffy's face.

"Governments don't help," she stated baldly.

"True. Lisbon, consider a moment. The US government would undoubtedly start out with the best of intentions, trying to help Buffy and her friends, but in time, they'd try something like asking her to help on a counter-terrorism operation. And soon she'd be so busy working for the CIA she wouldn't have time to fight demons." Jane paused. "I can't believe I said that with a straight face. Demons!"

Giles arched one eyebrow in disapproval. "Be that as it may, Mr Jane is essentially correct. Governments would seek to use the Slayer, and we can't allow that to happen. I hope you understand, Agent Lisbon?"

She nodded slowly. "I do." She held out a card for Buffy though. "But if you ever need anything, call me. I may work for the government, but you can trust me."

"Thanks," Buffy smiled, looking oddly embarrassed. "Same for you guys. You come across something like this again, just get in touch and we'll send someone to help. I can't guarantee it will be one of us, but someone will come." She hesitated slightly before saying, "So, you two good with what happened?"

"Yes. Jane nearly got eaten, and I'm sure he deserved it, but we closed the case." Jane looked hurt, but Lisbon ignored him. "I can write this up in a way that my boss will accept. Don't worry. We won't mention you more than necessary, and only as giving us useful information on why Robin Wood was here."

"Thanks," Buffy repeated. "And I'm sorry my idiot sister nearly got your idiot consultant killed."

"Hey, I've been tempted myself sometimes." She shrugged and exchanged grins with the blonde Slayer.

"Lisbon! I'm hurt!"

"Oh shut up Jane."

* * *

"Do you think Wills should work her mojo and do a memory spell on them?" Xander's smile had disappeared as soon as Lisbon and Jane had said their goodbyes. "They seem nice now, but what if they go all Initiative on us?"

"Nah, they're good guys," Buffy said with a smile. "Besides, did you see Agent Lisbon's right hook? For a non-Slayer, she'd make a great Slayer."

"And I like Patrick," Dawn said stubbornly. The two of them had spent twenty minutes talking quietly in a corner when they got back to the suite and Dawn thought she had a pretty good idea of how to put someone in a trance now. All she needed was a guinea pig…. Her eyes narrowed as she ran through her options. Andrew was definitely at the top of the list. As soon as they got back to London, she was going to try it.

"Dawnie, we can't trust people based on you having a humungous crush on them," Buffy reminded her dryly. "Remember how that's worked out in the past?"

"Angelus," Xander said.

"Mantis lady," Willow added.

"Inca Mummy Girl," Giles said with a smile.

"Cordelia," Buffy finished. "Which I think proves Xander has worse taste than me and also shows why we don't just go with 'oh pretty, we'll trust them now'." Dawn pouted. "But you do have a point. I liked him too." Buffy had spent a few minutes talking quietly with Jane and both had had tears in their eyes by the end of their talk.

"Me too. He was nice and funny, even when he was all bruised," Willow said with a smile. "And besides, I told you, he's not demony at all. I say we trust them. It might even be useful to have contacts in law enforcement in California."

"I agree with Willow. We leave it for now," Giles decided. "Now, let's get packed and ready to go home. We have a funeral to plan and I think Faith would like to be involved in that. She should be done with the Finnish vampires in the next couple of days, so I suggest we all head to Cleveland, check on the Hellmouth and meet up with all those who will need to be there for Wood's funeral."

"Good plan, oh Watcher mine." Buffy nodded decisively. "Then we'll have a gigantic party for Wood and put the fun back in funeral!"

"Oh dear lord…"

* * *

"Boss, exactly what happened back at the Hospital? You and Jane have been suspiciously quiet about the whole thing." Rigsby waited until they were back at CBI Headquarters before he brought the subject up, but it had obviously been bothering him. Van Pelt and Cho both leaned forward, interested in their answer.

"I told you: Julia Davidson and Blue Hands took Jane and Dawn Summers hostage and then I went in and saved them, but Blue Hands got away." Lisbon was curt and to the point. She knew her people too well. If she gave them any sort of clue, they wouldn't stop until they had the whole truth, and she wasn't sure it would be safe for them to know.

"So why was Buffy Summers involved?"

"Because she was looking for her sister," Lisbon said with a tone that warned her team to change the subject. "Where is Jane anyway?"

He walked in then, carrying a box. "Lisbon, good you're all here. I've got something for you." Lisbon got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. He'd done something stupid. Again. Next time she really was going to let the monster eat him. "Now, I thought I'd buy everyone a little present, as a sort of case closed present. Van Pelt, here's yours." He handed her a copy of _Twilight_ by Stephenie Meyer. "I thought you might like this. It's a little over-romantic and mushy, but apparently it's got a happy ending."

Van Pelt frowned, muttered thanks and looked bemused.

"Cho, this one's for you." This one was _Carpe Jugulum_ by Terry Pratchett. "You'll love it – it's hilarious. The vampires in this one never stood a chance." Lisbon hid a smile; Jane's theme was unmistakeable. "Rigbsy, I got you _Interview with a Vampire_ by Anne Rice. I think it's probably your sort of thing; lots of blood and violence. And Lisbon," he turned to her with a smile, "Lisbon, I got you this one." He handed her a large hardback and she laughed when she saw the title. _Encyclopedia Horrifica: The Terrifying Truth about vampires, ghosts, monsters and more!_

"Very funny, Jane."

"What's the sudden fascination with vampires, Jane?"

"Rigsby, this case just made me consider that perhaps, we don't always know everything." He smiled brightly. "Can I have a word with you, Lisbon, in your office?"

"Sure." She waited until the door was closed before she said, "I thought we were going to keep this quiet."

"We are, I just wanted to give everyone a little research, just in case. Don't you want to see the book I got myself?" He handed over _Dracula_ by Bram Stoker. "Read the inside." Inside was a note reading: 'Hey Patrick, don't worry, this guy's nowhere near as charming in real life! Love, Buffy'. Lisbon started to laugh.

"I've been meaning to ask you about this actually. How are you taking this so well? I thought you might have more than a few problems with all this, but you've coped as though being nearly eaten by a monster and then rescued by a young girl who's shorter than me is perfectly normal!"

Jane bit his lip and shrugged. "Buffy told me a few things." He paused, hesitated for a long moment before saying, "Do you know she's been to Heaven? It really exists and she said she was truly happy there. She also said she was sure that my wife and daughter were in Heaven."

Lisbon touched his arm lightly. "I'm sure she's right."

"It gets a little easier to believe in life after death when you hear Buffy Summers tell you all about it," he admitted. "And if they're happy and at peace, well, maybe everything isn't that bad. Maybe."

"Maybe."

He cleared his throat and smiled. "And I wanted to give you something else." He gave her a small jewellery box. Inside was a beautiful, delicate golden cross with a diamond at the centre.

"Jane, you didn't have to..."

"Lisbon, you're not a superhero, but you still ran in to save me from that thing." Jane smiled easily at her. "You couldn't have stopped it, but I know you would have died trying. So let me say thank you. You're the best friend I could have."

"And you're a pain in the ass, but I'm damned if I'm going to let you become something's main course." Lisbon smiled at him. "And I think of you as a very good friend too."

"Good." He gave her one last dazzling smile and left her office. Before he closed the door, she heard him say, "So who wants to go for pizza?" Lisbon grinned. She'd liked Buffy Summers and her friends, but it was nice for life to get back to normal. Well, as normal as life got with Patrick Jane in it, anway.

* * *

A/N: So there we are; the day has been saved, all of our heroes have escaped unscathed (with the exception of a few shattered perceptions) and life can return to normal. Thanks to all who have reviewed and please let me know what you think of the two final chapters.

The way has been left open for a sequel - perhaps Lisbon or Jane will need to call Buffy in for help on a case and Rigsby, Cho and Van Pelt will find the truth. Or maybe Faith will want to meet the people who caught Robin's killers... If anyone would like to perhaps see a sequel, please let me know!

Thanks again for all the support and words of encouragement - this was a lot of fun to write and I hope it was a lot of fun to read!


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